The mother who cannot say goodbye to her dead child: Tragic gorilla cannot bear to be separated from her baby a week after it died… and still tries to wake her up

  • Shira the gorilla lost her one-week-old daughter at Frankfurt Zoo
  • She could be seen frantically pacing in her cage, holding the dead baby
  • Keepers have yet to retrieve the body as she refuses to realise it is dead 

By Allan Hall In Berlin for MailOnline

Published: 12:30 EST, 17 September 2015 | Updated: 14:49 EST, 17 September 2015

These are the tragic photos which prove the bonds of motherhood know no bounds.

A gorilla called Shira walks frantically through her cage at Frankfurt Zoo in Germany, desperate for her dead baby to wake up.

Grief is etched on her face as she carries her, cuddles her and sometimes shakes her.

Heartbreaking: Shira the gorilla, living at Frankfurt Zoo, tragically lost her week-old baby 

Heartbreaking: Shira the gorilla, living at Frankfurt Zoo, tragically lost her week-old baby 

But her toddler died after a week and she cannot fathom why. At night she lays the dead gorilla across her stomach and wakes up with the same perplexed look on her face when her baby doesn't stir.

Zoo director Prof. Manfred Niekisch said; 'Last Thursday she was OK in the morning but in the afternoon she suddenly and without warning died. We have as yet no idea what caused it.'

Zookeepers intend to retrieve the dead infant when her ten-year-old mother finally lets go of the corpse for an autopsy.

Prof Niekisch said of her all-too-human reluctance to relinquish the baby: 'This is often the case with gorillas. The bond between mothers and their babies is particularly close.

Grief: The ten-year-old gorilla could be seen walking frantically through her cage at Frankfurt Zoo in Germany, desperate for her dead baby to wake up

Grief: The ten-year-old gorilla could be seen walking frantically through her cage at Frankfurt Zoo in Germany, desperate for her dead baby to wake up

Double loss: This is the second time Shira has lost a baby, her six-month-old son Tandu died last year

Double loss: This is the second time Shira has lost a baby, her six-month-old son Tandu died last year

Pacing: Shira struggles to come to terms with the loss, and tries to wake up her baby daughter

Pacing: Shira struggles to come to terms with the loss, and tries to wake up her baby daughter

Happier days: Shira pictured with her baby daughter shortly before it died. She is still carrying the little one

Happier days: Shira pictured with her baby daughter shortly before it died. She is still carrying the little one

'Shira needs time and space to come to terms with her loss.' The baby is the second that she has given birth to - and tragically, the second to die.

In May last year her son Tandu died at the age of six months after catching a lethal viral infection. Then, like now, she cuddled and cajoled him to wake up in vain.

Then, when she realised all hope was gone, she laid him in a quiet corner of her enclosure and walked away to mourn alone on her bed.

'We will wait until she gives the baby up, retrieve it and find out what killed it,' added Prof. Niekisch. 

Tragedy: The grief is etched across Shira#s face as she realised that her baby is dead

Tragedy: The grief is etched across Shira#s face as she realised that her baby is dead

Zoo keepers were able to retrieve the body of the baby after Shira finally realised her daughter was dead

Zoo keepers were able to retrieve the body of the baby after Shira finally realised her daughter was dead

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